Mark

eBay. They're described as "haven't checked everything, but it looks complete" by sellers that "don't know much about these things" (but when you check their recent sales, model kits are all they have been selling)

Art: The '29 pickup and '31 sedan/Woody kits did not use the same stock wheels and tires! I've got original issues of both kits; the '31 uses 19" tires as you say, the tires in the '29 pickup are slightly, but noticeably taller. The tires in my '29 kit are still bagged so I can't make out the sidewall size detail, but a "20" is plainly visible on the tire. The wheels from the '31 would fall through the center holes in the '29 tires. It's a shame that only the original issue pickup has those stock wheels and tires; the tires are of the "plastic eating" variety. Every built example I have seen with the stock tires, has wheels that have softened into bubble gum. I'd rate the Revell A kits far above all the others. But the AMT '29 roadster has something neither of the Revell kits ever had: accelerator, clutch, and brake pedals!

The Jo-Han '64 hardtop was originally a Fury. The original annual Jo-Han kits (hardtop and convertible) had Fury trim and could be built stock. Both included a 426 Wedge engine. Jo-Han converted it to the Petty Belvedere around 1968. That reissue, and all since, have the Fury trim removed from the body along with the stock parts. The Wedge engine was replaced by the Hemi. The first reissue (in the flat box) includes an early Logghe Brothers funny car chassis.

I do this fairly often, mostly on newer kits. The newer tooling isn't as crisp as a lot of the older stuff. Some older kits, especially ones that have been reissued often, have problems because the tooling has been cleaned or polished with some detail loss. Panel lines are sometimes not deep enough for my tastes, and are occasionally wider than they should be. I'll sometimes scribe around trim too, to better define the edges for later application of foil.

They are Ansen Apollo wheels. The resin units pictured look like copies of the ones in the AMT '67 Impala annual kits. I believe they were in the AMT "for 1968" custom Impala also.

Never heard about any Forty Niners reissues, but Model King was supposedly going to do a reissue of some other Monogram 1/32 scale drag cars, including the Fiat Topolino and '34 Ford coupe. The '41 Willys coupe wasn't mentioned because (supposedly) it no longer exists. These reissues didn't happen, nor did the reissue of the old 1/24 scale Kurtis midget (the one based on the slot car body). Neither Revell-Monogram nor Round 2 (AMT/MPC) are doing "private label" reissues at this time, so I've heard.

Get a brand that has a good bottle with a snap-on cap, like Loctite. After each application, wipe the bottle's nozzle clean and snap the cap back on. When not in use, make sure the bottle is standing up straight, and doesn't get knocked over allowing the glue to flow out of the opening into the cap. That, or buy the cheap stuff that comes in the small tubes, several for a dollar. Those are meant to be used right away once opened.

Two things add to my previous post: -Hobby Lobby doesn't have any plastic beads in a hex shape. All of the smaller stuff I saw there was glass, and therefore useless for what we want to do. -The plastic hex beads can't really be drilled out. They appear to be molded in clear plastic which tends to be brittle to begin with, but this stuff is more brittle than I expected. I just barely started turning a nice, sharp .032" drill bit and the bead shattered. You might be able to enlarge the hole with a rat-tail file, but even then I'd expect to end up with more broken beads/fittings than good ones. Since this was the only hex-shaped variety I saw, there do not appear to be any molded in colors (which might have been less brittle and perhaps drillable).

After reading this thread the other day, I stopped at Michael's yesterday to check out the beads and try to find this particular one. Among the massive variety of beads, I only found one hexagonal style which I believe is the same as the one pictured. The ones I have are Toho Treasure Beads, 11/0 Hexagon variety. With the weekly 40% off coupon that accompanies me on every trip, the package was something like $2. There must be a couple hundred beads in there. I measured the diameter of a piece of wire I had on hand that fits snugly into the hole in this bead, it is .030" which would translate to a 3/4" outside diameter in 1/25 scale. I haven't tried drilling the hole out to a larger size, though I suspect it could be drilled out with a 66, 67, or 68 bit to fit a slightly bigger wire. I happened to stop by an AC Moore store today, their selection was not as good as Michael's. They didn't have anything in a hex shape, though they did have the crimp beads mentioned elsewhere in the thread. There is a Hobby Lobby in my area, next time I am there I will see what they have. I went to the website of the company that sells the Toho beads, and was unable to turn up anything in any other sizes in the hex shape. For larger fittings, the aluminum tubing filed on six sides should suffice. For smaller sizes, drilled/sliced Plastruct hexagonal styrene will have to do. For those of you not familiar with beadcraft, a lot of the available beads are made of glass; you'll want to avoid those. The crimp beads are metal, the hex beads are plastic.

Revell got away with that "prototype model" nonsense on a number of kits. If you closely examine the photos of their 1/25 scale funny car kits, the "prototypes" are often 1/16 scale kits assembled without the wiring. The front tires and wheels are a giveaway; the ones in the 1/16 scale kits are good, the 1/25 scale ones are awful.

There were five cars in the Buttera series: the '26 sedan, touring, and sedan delivery, and the undersized '33 and '34 coupes. All were labeled as Buttera cars in their first issue. All used the same chassis. The coupe body had a separate roof like the Monogram '34, and Monogram and AMT '36 Ford kits. One of the Revell '33-'34 coupes had a strange looking top that was chopped on a slant. The seriously undersized coupes could be cut down further (mainly shortened) to approximate an English Ford Model Y. The Model Y looks like a shrunken '33-'34 American Ford, when in reality the Y came first (in '32) and its styling was adapted to the American Fords for '33.

The Pyro '32 Chevy is a cabriolet. I've got the Life-Like reissue, body and top look the same as the MPC pieces. It's called a cabriolet on the box also.

I can't remember the last time I bought a new X-Acto handle. At automotive swap meets or even flea markets, often you can find them on a "10 cents each" tarp or box where someone lays everything out and leaves a coffee can for payment on the honor system. These will often have X-Acto handles in them. They get put aside when the blade gets broken off in the handle. Dip the blade end of the handle in penetrating oil, let soak overnight, disassemble next day, insert new blade. For the #11 blade, I prefer the skinny handle.

My previous employer (2002-05) was an electrical contractor who also operated a vinyl sign shop. (They sold greeting cards too, but that's another story.) While they were in the process of going under, they threw tons of stuff away. I got some larger diameter coated single-strand wire that might be good for making headers, if I ever get around to it. There were a couple of whole rolls of the stuff, but I only took scraps. (I don't even take pens, paper clips, or stamps from work, only things that are thrown away.) I also took a few boxes of business cards left by short-lived employees. (Why did they save these; did they think they might hire another person with the same name?). Those are good for making patterns, and cheaper than buying index cards. On the sign store side, I've got some vinyl scraps including some that looks like chrome. It's not flexible like foil, though. They also threw away a bunch of CDs that were used with the programmable vinyl cutters; those have fonts on them that can be used in artwork applications. The sign store also used #11 X-Acto blades, and threw them away after every few cuts so as not to tear the vinyl. The discards were tossed into a coffee can so they didn't get mixed in with the other trash. I went through the can and saved every blade that didn't have the tip broken off. I will never have to buy another #11 blade again, ever. I even sharpened them on company time. The owner wanted me in the building during working hours because the sign shop was operated by a woman, and we weren't in the greatest neighborhood. He kept me around full-time to watch the office and do a payroll with two employees on it (me and the girl) though I told him up front that there wasn't much to do. I got paid for two months to read magazines, surf the Internet, rummage through the place, and sharpen X-Acto blades. Small compensation for having been lied to about the company's overall condition, and having to deal with the IRS every couple of months over back taxes...

The flyer for my area doesn't mention them, but they are in the stores. Looks more like "clearing the slow sellers out of the warehouse", though. No ex-AMT '34 Ford pickups, no Dodge A-100 (Little Red Wagon), no '66 Chevelles, no Dodge Chargers. A lot of large scale stuff, diecast items (including engines), monster trucks, and ex-Pyro stuff. I did pick up another Dodge L-700/flatbed/'40 Ford combo though, $20 before applying a 15% off card I had that was about to expire. This one is molded in white unlike the one I bought when it was first issued. They did have '53 Ford kits, the convertibles being the earlier Indy Pace Car issue. Most of the 1/25 scale kits were $8 apiece. For some reason the ex-Pyro 1/32 scale kits were priced at $15.99 each; at that price they will be sitting on those...

There were a number of car kits with clear bodies... AMT Don Garlits Wynn's Jammer (the 1964 car) MPC Ford GT "J-Car" MPC George Montgomery Mr. Gasket Gasser 1969 Mustang MPC David Pearson NASCAR Pontiac GTO Gunze Sangyo High-Teck Isetta Polar Lights Charger and Barracuda funny cars (in clear, with a small number in red clear) Esci made a couple of car kits with clear bodies. One was a Mercedes-Benz, the other a European Ford Escort if I remember right. Of all of these, only the Gunze Isetta had the windows molded as a unit with the body. The body was meant to be painted after the window areas were masked off. All of the others had separate windows that had to be glued in, creating glue marks that were visible on the finished model. All were probably planned for issue with solid color bodies also, otherwise everything would have been molded as one unit. The MPC Mr. Gasket Gasser did not have a separate tilting front end or opening hood, so if you painted the body you couldn't view the engine.

The Coca Cola version is the most recent, but there was another Ertl issue right around the same time. The sedan delivery is based on the coupe and has the Buick engine also. Even the "Rides" issue of the delivery (with the large diameter wheels) has the Buick mill.

Art Anderson: Ed Shaver is correct. Back in the day, AMT Corporation was the largest single model kit producer anywhere around, and as such, had the brand recognition to go along with it. So, Johan either sent the tooling over to Maple Road (which I doubt, given that Johan's tooling was made to fit their injection molding machines, which reportedly dated back to the very earliest types built during WW-II or shortly thereafter) The AMT-boxed Jo-Han kits were more than likely produced at Jo-Han's facilities. The styrene used is the same opaque, somewhat brittle stuff used in Jo-Han's kits, and the unplated parts in these kits were never bagged. AMT started bagging parts in their kits around 1969, while Jo-Han parts weren't bagged until the SeVille era. If I remember right, the first Jo-Han kit sold in AMT packaging was the 1967 Toronado. Jo-Han kept it for themselves for '66. Others included more Toronados ('68 and '70), Olds 442 ('69 and '70), two-seater AMX ('68-'70), the "Coke bottle" Javelin/AMX (Mark Donohue racing version and the '74 annual), '72 Torino NASCAR version, pro stock Ford Maverick, and Dodge Challenger funny car. An "AMT" '70 Eldorado was announced but never appeared. Though AMT made a couple of Cadillac promos in the mid-Fifties, they never offered a full detail Cadillac kit until recently (the Escalade EXT). The AMT/Jo-Han arrangement seems to have ended around 1974. The '68-'70 AMX kits and '68 Toronado were not sold in Jo-Han packaging. The first two-seater AMX kit offered by Jo-Han was the Shirley Shahan 1969 drag car (first available in 1971), then later revised to the near-stock USA Oldies series kit.

If I am not mistaken, Ohio George Montgomery's famous '33 Willys gasser wore AMT logos at various points in its racing career. And I believe that Montgomery's "Multi-Maverick" had MPC decals on it, although it's my understanding that that car was never actually raced. George Montgomery did race the Maverick, though not much. He went back to the red Mustang. I read an interview where he said MPC bankrolled the construction of the Maverick in exchange for the rights to make the kit. That's not too far-fetched: there were kits of four of his cars (AMT's '33 Willys, MPC's '67 and '69 Mustangs and the Maverick). Briefly, all four were available at the same time. Gassers in general, and George Montgomery in particular, were apparently pretty popular with model car builders in the Sixties and Seventies. I don't know if it counts as "sponsorship", but I have seen a number of photos of the Motown Missile '72 Barracuda with small MPC decals on the quarter panels.

The Victoria kit wasn't available in hobby shops or stores right away, this one is the first issue which was sold through Ford dealers for a while before the kit appeared in stores. It has been reissued a number of times, most recently as a DTR private label reissue that can still be found new-in-box if you look around. It's called a "jalopy" but still can be built stock; the "jalopy" version has to be built with aftermarket parts and a lot of cutting. The early issues are more desirable because more recent issues show the wear on the body tooling, the early ones are very crisp while newer ones have thinner drip rails around the side windows, things like that. Even so, an early one in absolute mint condition might fetch $50 or so. With missing parts or other issues, it becomes a "builder" and might sell for about the retail price of a new, current kit, maybe a little bit more. The most recent one I picked one up was about two years ago. Poor condition box and decals, missing the stock fender unit but otherwise complete and in great shape, $15. I wasn't looking for another one, but it was a first issue with the clean, crisply molded body and very nice plating (with slicks and custom wheels that aren't in later issues) so I didn't let that one slide by. The body will not directly swap onto the newer Revell '32 chassis. All of the AMT bodies are designed to interchange with one another. Because the earliest ones (roadster and coupe) are a bit off (not tall enough) the later ones (two-door sedan, Victoria, and phaeton) are "adjusted" a bit so they interchange with the others. If you try adjusting the body to fit the newer fenders and chassis, the proportions get thrown off. Were I to try mixing parts between the AMT and Revell kits, I'd use the AMT body, hood, and fenders, and swap in the Revell chassis. Next choice would be to swap the modern running gear to the AMT chassis and then fit the AMT fenders and body.

It's the fuel pump. The cylindrical thing sticking out of the side of the engine block right behind it is the oil filter. The oil filter is a bolt-on unit (long bolt through the center) which is why it has bolt head detail at the end. Later Ford V8 engines have the distributor and coil at the front, but not the Y-block which was used in North American Fords from 1954 through 1962.

That it is. AMT sold a number of Jo-Han kits in their packaging between 1967 and 1974; the Challenger funny car is one. Others included Olds Toronado ('67, '68, '70) and 4-4-2 ('69, '70) annual kits, '68-'70 AMX annual kits, the Pro Stock Ford Maverick, the NASCAR '72 Torino, and the '73 Hornet funny car. Jo-Han had lousy distribution even in those days, and for AMT it was probably an inexpensive way to add a few products to their catalogs each year. A win-win for both. I don't know why the deal ended, but the end seems to coincide with Jo-Han's introduction of the USA Oldies series. Maybe someone at Jo-Han thought they didn't need to deal through AMT any more. These kits appear to have been manufactured and packaged by Jo-Han, with AMT boxes, instruction sheets, and decal sheets. The parts in AMT-boxed Jo-Han kits are not bagged, and the plastic is the opaque, sometimes brittle styrene characteristic of Jo-Han kits.

The first AMT Ford Econoline kit was the "Vantom" which was issued in 1976. It includes stock parts. There was no 1976 annual kit. The only annual was the '77 Cruising Van which can only be built as the stock "factory customized" Ford van. The Cruising Van does not include stock wheel covers. The later Six-Wheel and "Matilda" (movie tie-in) issues include all of the stock parts except for tires, though the parts aren't used in those issues and aren't shown on the instruction sheets. The kits that don't include stock exterior trim parts are the Disco Van, Cuckoo Nest, and Hyper Hut. The stock grille, bumpers, and wheels for the Econoline kits were on the plated tree. With custom parts substituted, there was nothing left on the stock plated tree that was needed to build the custom vans so that tree was left out. The AMT Chevy vans had a number of engine parts on the plated tree (unlike the Fords). The tree with the engine parts had to be left in the custom Chevy kits, so all of the Chevies had stock bumpers and wheels. (As an aside, that tree was left unplated in the first issue A-Team van kit.) As for the MPC Fords, the 4 x 4 was issued first and can only be built as a 4 x 4 as illustrated on the box. Those were molded in red and white, I have one of each color. There were several two wheel drive MPC issues. All of those have stock parts, but most have pre-cut custom porthole window openings on the quarter panels. MPC #1-0439 "Juke Box" (molded in black) issued in 1980 is the only 2wd issue I know of that does not have the portholes. There is also a "Sorcerer" (molded in white) and "Sunrunner" (molded in yellow), and there may be others.

For sheet plastic, look up "plastics" in the business section of the phone directory. If you have a plastics supplier/fabricator in your area, often you can buy their "cutoffs" (surplus/waste pieces from signs or other jobs). This material is sold by the pound, and you can pick and choose only from what they have. I have found sheet styrene in thicknesses ranging from .030" to 1/8". Even though these pieces are "scrap", they are usually way larger than anything you find in the hobby shops. I haven't bought any in a couple years (probably have too much already) but last time I checked, the price hadn't changed: $1.50 per pound, buy five pounds and get five free (which translates to $7.50 plus sales tax for ten pounds). If you can scrounge that much, ten pounds is a lot of plastic. I still buy Evergreen or Plastruct styrene rod, tubing, channel and other shapes, but not sheet material unless I don't have the thickness I need (which is never). I've still got a lot of .020" cutoff material from my vacuforming days. For inexpensive molded styrene nuts, bolts, and rivets, you can't beat Tichy Train Group...good quantity in each package for not a lot of money. Some packages even instruct you about the diameter drill to use to drill holes to accept the molded shank of the detail piece so you can insert them and cement them in from the back side.

Actually, the last bunch of AMT kits turned up in closeout stores because of two things: (1) Wal-Mart got out of carrying model kits, and (2) probably in part due to (1), RC2 decided to shut down AMT and quit the (in their words) "automotive collectibles" market in favor of toys. To clear the warehouse to make way for toys, and without WM to sell the kits to, they wound up at closeout stores along with the remaining WM stock. Though the more rabid model car guys won't want a(nother) 300, issuing it now makes sense. Revell still has a 300 out there, so someone is buying them. Sometimes we forget that there are a lot of model car builders/buyers out there who don't buy model magazines or aftermarket stuff, and aren't connected with the "model car community" at large. They just buy a kit and stick the thing together every so often. They've been the ones buying the Chrysler 300s, Cadillac Escalades, '66 Mustang coupes, and AMT '64 Impalas. A guy I knew who operated a hobby shop (since closed) told me he could never get enough of the latter two kits. He'd order twice as many as he really wanted, the wholesaler would send him half as many as he really wanted, he'd put them on the shelf, and within a day or two he'd be cleaned out of them. Every year, I look at the upcoming releases that have been announced, and shrug my shoulders at half of the stuff. But hopefully, the manufacturers do well with those items that I couldn't care less about, and they'll take some of that money and invest it in something that I would want...